So, Obama is probably going to need to pick someone from the moderate, DLC, Clinton wing of the party for the sake of party unity. That person, in my opinion, ought not to be Clinton herself.
There is another factor, though. Obama has to pick a running mate that was, like him, initially opposed to the Iraq War. He's not argued that Clinton's war support completely disqualifies her from the office of the presidency, but he has responded to her "experience" arguments with "judgment" arguments. I get the sense that picking a prominent Iraq hawk like Joe Biden might raise some eyebrows.
So, I was wondering what we had to work with in Congress when it comes to Iraq War opponents. Turns out there was quite a few of them in the House, but picking a sitting representative seems like a bad idea. Obama's lack of experience will come into play, and having someone on the ticket who has never even run statewide seems like a real liability. Now, picking Nancy Pelosi would be one thing, but there's that balance thing again.
Here's Wikipedia's list of opponents of the Iraq War in the Senate:
21 (42%) of 50 Democratic Senators voted against the resolution: Sens. Akaka (D-HI), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Byrd (D-WV), Conrad (D-ND), Corzine (D-NJ), Dayton (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Feingold (D-WI), Graham (D-FL), Inouye (D-HI), Kennedy (D-MA), Leahy (D-VT), Levin (D-MI), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Reed (D-RI), Sarbanes (D-MD), Stabenow (D-MI), Wellstone (D-MN), Wyden (D-OR).
And here's a list of Clinton endorsers in the Senate:
Sen. Evan Bayh (Ind.)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.)
Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii)
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.)
Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.)
Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.)
Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.)
Sen. Mark Pryor (Ark.)
Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
Overlapping the two lists: Inouye, Mikulski, Murray, Stabenow. Not exactly household names. Dan Inouye is over 80 years old. None are spring chickens, and none are really notable. I suppose the main problem here is that trying to find Iraq War opponents among DLC types is difficult because the DLC made support for the Iraq War its raison d'etre.
So, who does that leave us? Who is a notable figure with ties to Clinton that opposed the Iraq War? I'm beginning to think that we're left with more or less one person: Wes Clark. Not an ideal candidate, to be sure, and I get the feeling that his past statements on abortion would come around to bite us in the ass if he got the VP nomination. Nevertheless, he does meet the pertinent criteria. He lacks political experience, though he does have executive and military experience. Ted Strickland is another possibility: he opposed the Iraq War and supported Clinton. He's a rookie too, which could be good or bad. He's got a lot of promise, to be sure. I sort of wish that Jim Webb would cynically endorse Clinton now so that he could fit these considerations as well. Then again, he might get it anyway, since Obama might decide that he can reach out to the Clinton wing by other means than a VP selection. If he does, though, I'd expect it to be Wes Clark.
